A Nurses Guide To Nursing

Registered Nursing Jobs

faviola — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 20:22:14 +0000

What is a RN and why are there so many RN jobs out there? A RN is one that has a college degree (Associate’s or Bachelor’s degree) from an accredited institution and has passed his or her nursing boards. Required classes to get a degree so that you can qualify for RN jobs include anatomy, physiology, chemistry, nutrition, and behavioral science classes like psychology. Most schools require clinical experience, and this experience will also help you when you are looking for RN jobs.

If you are qualified or looking to be qualified for RN jobs, then you should be pleased that the job outlook for RN jobs is very high. In fact, RN jobs are expected to grow faster than the average growth for all other jobs through the year 2012. RN jobs in hospitals is expected to remain the same, though RN jobs in nursing care facilities is expected to grow exponentially as the baby boomer generation ages.The growth for these RN jobs may be due to technological advances and pressure from insurance companies to avoid in-patient hospitalization. Many advances in medicine have created RN jobs in which RN’s travel to patient homes to provide care or perform procedures in outpatient facilities.

Many organizations now offer major bonuses and high salaries to lure RN’s, as there are more jobs than nurses. Thus, finding RN jobs can be a process of knowing what type of nurse you want to be and seeking out the opportunity to fill that need.

Information on Nursing

faviola — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 21:18:40 +0000

So you’re interested in becoming a nurse. Does the “nursing shortage” make you feel like you need to be a part of the “gold rush,” because you have read and heard about all of the wonderful sign-on bonuses? Sounds great but are you willing to do the work and handle the responsibilities that come along with the job. You need to really fill yourself with information that will help guide your decisions and reasons for you to go into this profession.
The Internet holds a wealth of nursing information and contacts. Many organizations can provide email addresses or other contact information from nurse professionals who are retired or who currently work in a particular field. Go to Google.com (or your favorite search engine) and type in keywords “email” and the nursing specialty that interests you. You’ll see a number of national associations listed, most of which have local affiliates. Find the nearest affiliate and give them a call or send email to see if you can attend their next meeting. Tell them a little about yourself and your interest in the profession, and that you’d like to sit in on a meeting or attend an upcoming event as a guest. If you don’t receive a favorable response, try another organization, even if you aren’t interested in the specialty area. Remember, the idea is to gain some experience and knowledge about the profession of nursing.

The one great thing about nursing is the variety of opportunities. Many prospective students have their specialty title etched in stone. “I want to go into pediatric nursing, because I love children.” “I want to work in trauma.” Moreover, they don’t want to discuss or research anything else. There is nothing wrong with having a vision of which practice area you’d like to specialize in, but it is a good idea to keep the door open to other possibilities. Turnover can be high in some areas, and many nurses change specialties for various reasons, from burnout, boredom, needing a change of pace, advancement reasons, to unforeseen circumstances. The ability to change specialty areas is one of the good things about nursing, made possible because skills are highly transferable.

Another important part of your research is volunteering at a hospital or nursing home; many organizations need volunteers to sit with patients or residents as companions. Working in the mail department won’t help, so concentrate your efforts on volunteering in a patient care setting, where you can have a direct visual of the nurse-patient interaction. This experience will be invaluable for you.

When it comes to nursing it is best to know for sure if this is the type of profession that is fufilling to you and is something you will enjoy doing. You don’t want to see yourself spending valuable time and money just to realize that nursing isn’t right for you.

Travel Nursing Agencies And Their Role

faviola — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 02:52:31 +0000

Travel nursing has become a very popular way of of nursing. It is no wonder we are seeing more and more travel nursing agencies pop up. What exactly do travel nursing agencies offer? They basically get calls from different facilities through out the country and try to find nurses that are interested in visiting that specific area. Here is a breakdown of the types of things an agency works out for you:

SALARY

No question about it, there are some agencies that offer more money than others. So the first thing to remember is that agencies may base salaries upon things like location availability, need-to-fill assignments, and cost of living. They do however try to work out the best rate for you.

BENEFITS

What some companies may lack in salary, they make up for with benefits. Many agencies offer benefits programs that revolve around monetary bonuses or discounted luxury housing; and I have even observed a trend with several newer companies that offer entirely free housing to all their nurses. Now they are even health benefits being provided by some agencies.

CUSTOMER SERVICE

To many traveling nurses, customer service and aid are the most important attributes a placement agency possesses. If you called ten agencies and only talked with one live recruiter, it’s probably best to narrow it down to the agency where individual placement specialists were easily available.

FEATURED LOCATIONS AND HOT SPOTS

While for some nurses, salary, benefits, and career flexibility might be the number-one interest, many others just want the obvious to travel and see the world. If you’re an adventurer who cares more about the travel experience than the money, then you’ll need an agency that can offer you the locations you want.

A Career In Travel Nursing

faviola — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 22:26:24 +0000

After finishing the nursing program many people think the only way to go is to get a steady job in an acute setting in order to get those first couple of years of experience. However, that is not the only way to go. I’ve known quite a few nurses that have chosen the travel nursing alternative and they have been happy with their decision. When I ask them why they enjoy travel nursing they stated they enjoy great pay and the ability to travel and get to go to different places. They feel that they still get the same type of experiences and teaching opportunities. While I personally am not a traveling nurse, it is something that I am considering doing. I think that travel nursing is ideal for the nurses who get antsy after being in one place for a while and like change.

So if you are the type of person who doesnt mind change and loves to travel, travel nursing might be just right for you. There are many travel nursing agencies out there so make sure you research plenty and see what they offer because they are not all the same.

Nursing Practice Act

faviola — Wed, 16 May 2007 20:11:55 +0000

Nurse Practice Act is a set of state laws that govern specific aspects of the nursing profession. The statutes are generally grouped with a chapter of state laws, referred to in its entirety as the Nurse Practice Act “the Act”.Individual state legislatures’ determine the Acts content, so “the Act” may differ a bit from state-to-state. Nonetheless, many acts address common issues such as establishing the composition and scope of authority for the board of nursing; defining the practice of professional, practical or vocational nursing and advanced practice nursing; setting the requirements to obtain a nursing license; limiting use of the title, “nurse” and listing the grounds for discipline against a nurse’s license.

Most public libraries should have a copy of the state statute books which should have a copy each individual states act. However, be sure to get a copy of the most current version and check for the latest amendments that may not be included in the format you’re using. It also wouldn’t hurt every licensed nurse to have a personal up-to-date copy of “the Act” available for easy reference.

A Career In Independent Nurse Contractor

faviola — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 18:50:32 +0000

Independent RN Contractor is a great way to renew your interest and rejuvenate your nursing career. As An Independent Nurse Contractor you will increase your choices as to when, where and how often you work, substantially increase your income and most of all gain professional autonomy.

An Independent Nurse contractor contracts with a healthcare facility to provide nursing services, usually by the hour. An Independent contractor can contract his or her nursing services directly with a healthcare facility or with a patient and continue bedside practice

Nurse Contractors practice in all aspects of the Healthcare Industry; Home Health, Nursing Homes, Hospitals, Rehab Centers and Doctors Offices, all aspects of Nurse Consulting just to name a few. No advance degrees are necessary unless your business includes diagnosing and treating medical problems. State nurse practice acts do no prohibit a nurse from starting up their own business as an Independent Nurse Contractor.

A Career In Licensed Practical Nursing

faviola — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 03:07:02 +0000

Licensed Practical Nurses provide the most amount of direct patient care within the nursing category of healthcare. If you’re interested in a healthcare career dealing directly with patients, becoming an LPN is a rewarding opportunity.

LPN Job Description

LPNs provide a large portion of direct patient care. LPNs may be assisted, and delegate to nurses aides ( CNAs ) and other assistants in some of their duties. LPNs are directed by doctors and nurses (RNs & nurse managers). Typically, a LPN’s work duties include:

Taking vital signs
Preparing and administering injections and enemas
Applying dressings and bandages
Watching catheters
Treating bedsores
Monitoring patients and reporting changes
Collecting samples for testing
Monitoring food and liquid input/output

LPNs work in a variety of settings like hospitals, outpatient facilities, long term care facilities, clinics and home care. Tenured LPNs may supervise nursing aides and assistants.

Salary Ranges

While nursing jobs in general are in high demand nationwide, LPN positions in hospitals are declining. However, since this has been caused by an increase in outpatient services, LPN positions in long term care facilities and home health is in as much demand as other nursing categories.

The U.S. Department of Labor has published the median income for LPNs as $31,440 in 2002. The range was $22,860 to $44,040 based on geographic location and work experience. Contract LPNs made the most money, while doctor’s office nurses made the least on average at $28,710.

A nursing career offers other benefits including a flexible schedule, a short work week (three 12 hour shifts with four days off), tuition reimbursement and signing bonuses.

Education / Getting Started

Because of the high level of patient responsibility, nursing is highly regulated, requiring both education and a license. Graduates must complete a state approved practical nursing program and pass a licensing examination. An LPN certificate can be completed in less than a year. Some RN students become LPNs after completing their first year of study. Course work in the LPN program includes anatomy, physiology, nutrition, biology, chemistry, obstetrics, pediatrics, first aid as well as nursing classes.

Information On The Nursing Shortage

faviola — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 21:48:06 +0000

It is a scary thought to think that we at this time are in a nursing shortage in this country. How is this possible? With the medical field being in such demand as it is. One would think our government would step in and begin providing some sort of assistance to colleges in order to make nursing a more attractive. A job with great pay and great benefits for nurses would definitely do the trick. It is funny to see that colleges nursing programs are so impacted that a waiting list is over a 2 year wait, the only hope to get in to a program before 2 years is if you win the nursing lottery. Our government should be stepping in and providing more grants to school to open up more classes and hire more teachers in order to provide a shorter waiting time period. It is very discouraging for a person that wants to go into the nursing program to think that there is a 2 year wait before you can even get started.

I hope there are organizations out there bringing up these topics to the appropriate people that can start doing something about this nursing shortage issue.

PDA’s In The Nursing World

faviola — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 19:06:56 +0000

PDA’s have become a nurse’s best tool to retrieve fast and accurate information. From nursing students to Nurse Practitioner’s PDA’s have proven to be a very useful gadget to have in their pockets. Not only are they small and compact, making them easy to carry around in coats, but they also are able to carry tons of useful information ranging from medical dictionaries, to nursing textbooks that can be used for referrences.

I personally started using a PDA as I was ending nursing school. Almost immediately i noticed the usefulness and quickness of using a PDA and wondered how I ever got through nursing school with out it. I mostly used it as a drug referrence as I had my clinicals instead of carrying my big drug book around I was able to find a useful program for my PDA called ePocrates Rx. ePocrates Rx comes in two version and free one which is a comprehensive drug guide for PalmOS and ePocrates Rx Pro which you can purchase and use on both Palm PDA’s and Windows. The other great thing about this program is that they offer free updates so that medications stay current, dosing on medications is shown for both adult and pediatrics. Although there are many other medication programs for PDA’s out there, ePocrates has been a very usefull tool for me to have in my nursing career.

PDA’s have many other useful tools like medical referrence book and even medical calculators for IV medication dosing. Other uses for PDA’s is that you can use the planner and also their address book to keep all your contacts available at a moments disposal. If considering purchasing one of these cool and useful gadgets you will find many different kinds and prices so make sure you do your research and see whats out there and get a PDA that’s right for you.

Medical Billing and Administration Jobs

faviola — Thu, 28 Dec 2006 00:57:19 +0000

Medical billing and administration is another key component of healthcare operations. Medical facilities hire for billing positions, collections and administrative support. Special courses /experience are required in medical terminology and billing to obtain these types of jobs.

A rapidly growing sector of healthcare where all of these positions are required is that of home health. In the next six years, Medicare funding of home healthcare is expected to double. Over 7.6 million patients are being treated at home for both long term and short term care. Home healthcare is considered by the medical field and health insurers to be the most cost effective, humane and compassionate method of care.

The shortage of experienced healthcare workers in the United States is creating a boom for people who want to enter this field. There are many career options including positions that involve patient care and those that don’t. The current shortage of employees has created excellent starting salaries, generous benefits and signing bonuses.